Pound for pound, bluefish are one of the hardest fighting game fishes in the sea and, dollar for dollar, America can be one of the most expensive places to fish for them. That's if you fish for them from a guided boat, which it has to be said is the most assured way of catching them. But certainly its not the only way. For me, always having a guide do part of the work for you detracts from the degree of overall pleasure and personal satisfaction in locating then catching fish. Perhaps that's why I'm a dinghy angler back home. At least for some of the time I like to do the whole thing for myself, which during a memorable visit to Cape Cod just to the south of Boston is exactly what I did.

The arrangements had been that we would fly out to Boston, then drive on down to Chatham spending three days offshore fishing for blue fish and striped bass, leaving us four days to do our own thing which included amazingly a day spent cod fishing out of Plymouth. The rest of the time would then be spent fishing from the shore. Cape Cod itself is shaped rather like a bent arm with lots of natural inlets, shallow offshore banks, and steep surf beaches. The general area is mainly shallow lying sand and there's always somewhere comfortable to fish. Because of its shape, access to a wide range of venues is both quick and easy. This is just as well, because the active predatory fish in these parts can be there one day and several miles away the next depending on the movements of the bait fish shoals.

Our first visit to the beach was just below Chatham lighthouse armed with not only what we knew was the right gear for the job, but also a map drawn for us by Dave Lewis who had been there earlier showing 'X' marks the spot. How could we go wrong. Big rolling surf tables tumbling in over an offshore bar formed a long narrow channel around a point to the light. When Dave had been there, this particular beach had been lifting with stripers eager to grab at heavy lures cast at long range. The idea was to make a few casts then move on a few yards covering lots of ground. But we felt demoralized before we even started as no one we spoke to had even seen a fish in over a week. The remnants of a Caribbean hurricane had hit the Massachusetts coast just before we arrived, and all the previous fishing patterns had been flushed right down the pan.

Still, we gave it our best shot, but the results were somewhat predictable. So as the following day was an offshore day booked through a nearby specialist fly fishing shop called 'Fishing the Cape', we decided to pack up early and head over that way to make the necessary arrangements for the following morning rather than carry on. Luckily, we had a very detailed map of the Cape with us when we entered the shop. After tidying up the pick up details, we then proceeded to pour out our troubles to Peter Alves who runs the shop. “Have you guys got a map” he asked. That we most certainly had. Within minutes of putting it on the counter he had marked on it a whole string of sites where people passing through the shop had caught fish over the previous couple of days. We later found that other tackle outlets were equally keen to feed us similar detailed information which we intended most definitely to follow up.

One of the places suggested was an easy to access spot called Hardings Beach just off Route 28 which was the main road back to our digs. 'Turn just before Larry's PX diner into Barnhill Road and you can't miss it'. We found Larry's alright. In fact we even dropped in for one of his famous all day breakfasts of steak and eggs to gather our thoughts. After the eating, we decided we would continue on with the drive down to the beach for a quick look. The road actually terminates in a car park linked to a second car park by a track. As we drove into the second parking area we could see people along the waters edge fishing. It's amazing how quickly lost enthusiasm can return. Fortunately, with this type of situation in mind, despite a lack of room in the suit cases, we had all packed a pair of chest waders apiece. These were to prove invaluable. Some of the locals had waded in up to their nipples wearing just a T-short and shorts. But take my word for it, the water was far too cold for that.

Chest waders are also essential if you fancy giving fly fishing at sea a go which is very popular and at times, highly productive around Cape Cod. We had brought along one custom built nine foot Oceanic fly rod from Grey's coupled to a Hardy Sovereign 2000 disc drag salt water fly reel. You could of course use standard reservoir fly gear, the only problem being lack of corrosion resistance of any metal parts on both the rod and the reel, and having you fingers rattled by the reel handle if a good fish took hold. We had also brought along pike and carp rods with medium sized fixed spool reels loaded with 15 pounds bs Sufix Tritanium mono which we tided directly to lures in the 40 to 60 gram range. With hind sight, a short wire trace to the lure to beat the bluefish teeth would also have been useful, though fortunately our decision not use wire didn't cost us any fish on the day.

Initially, things went rather slowly, until we realised that the large dark patches dotted around the place were not in fact areas of submerged weed or rock but vast shoals of small shad like bait fish averaging a couple of inches or so in length. They must have been there literally in their millions, herded together into several large shoals which were slowly being chased up and down the beach right in front of us. Sometimes they strayed out beyond casting range. But for most of the time they worked close in parallel to the shore in the shallowest water so that they keeping the panicking shoal as two dimensional as possible. So close in fact that they would often surround us if we stood still for long enough. And surrounding them were packs of hungry predators which would occasionally also swim into and even between your legs, again if you stood still enough.

It depended where along the beach you fished as to what these predators would be. Further up towards the point they were mainly striped bass. In ones in front of us were predominantly blue fish. Slowly but surely they would herd the bait fish shoal up into a tight panicking ball, then all hell would break loose. Small fish would be leaping into the air everywhere as huge crashes and boils erupted all around the fringe of the shoal. Surprisingly as it turned out, that would not be a particularly good time to be targeting individual fish with the lures. With so much natural food on offer, at that moment the killers were preoccupied. But once the widespread killing had lapsed, that was the time for our lures to score.

We quickly found that by watching the bait shoals, we could predict where the bluefish would be hanging out. Invariably, they would be a few yards to the rear and along the tail edges of the shoal. That was the place to be sending the lures. A number of patterns were tried to try looking to ascertain the best combination of casting weight, sink rate and imitation value. The one which scored most highly was a Dexter Wedge in both the 40 and the 60 gram weight. Unfortunately, I didn't have a Wedge with me. Instead I caught my fish on a two inch Bridun spoon with a reflective copper stripe, and a smaller but heavier lure of unknown origin with a pre-cast scaled pattern. These lures had both been bought in for catching tigerfish, and both had proved their worth in that regard. Both had also been rigged with a single 6/0 hook as tigerfish have the infuriating habit of taking to the air and levering themselves off treble hooks by working their heads side to side against the hold of the hook. A single hook offers nothing to lever against, and whilst a treble may look more efficient, I have yet to loose a fish on a single hook lure.

Make no mistake about it, despite their size, bluefish are tremendous fish to catch, especially from the shore and under the circumstances we found them in. Savage takes, plenty of line pouring from the reel, and a dogged determination not to come in under any circumstances,. The more you push them, the harder they fight. One or two even took to the surface crashing about in a real show of temper. They can certainly put striped bass to shame. A 5 pound bluefish will outfight a 15 pound striped bass. At one stage, Ian Gaskell decided to walk around the point for a look and picked up a striped bass at the entrance to a large inlet which we were later to discover can be a real hot spot. It was one of our boating days and it was too wild to push out into open water, so our guide eased the boat in through the gap of what we now know to be Stage Harbour. At the entrance we caught some good albacore well within casting range of the shore. So much to try and so little time.

The UK to Boston is one of the shortest trans Atlantic flights available and there are usually some pretty good flight deals to be had out there. Motel accommodation can usually be picked up on spec, again with deals available for multiple night stopovers if you ask. Apparently, the best time to fish is either late spring when there are big numbers of fish present, or as we did, in September when the better fish are on the cards. New England is an attractive, quiet place with cheap eating, cheap fuel (compared to ours that is), and plenty of places to fish. With hind sight, I wouldn't bother much about taking loads of tackle or even clothes. Just pack the basics in a big roomy suit case, then take a walk around Wal Mart where quality tackle and just about everything else imaginable is virtually being given away. At least that way you can be sure you have exactly what you really do need.